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Geraghty, Peck & Levieva Cast in Sparling's New Thriller 'ATM'

It was only six months ago that Buried writer Chris Sparling's newest spec script, titled ATM, sold to Safran Co. and Gold Circle Films. As they originally promised, production is gearing up to start this fall. Similar to Buried (watch the trailer), ATM is about three young co-workers who "make a late-night visit to an ATM and end up in a desperate fight for their lives when they become trapped by an unknown man." It's another stuck in one place thriller set inside an ATM booth. THR reports a trio of young actors - Brian Geraghty, Josh Peck and Margarita Levieva - will star in ATM, with shooting beginning in late-September up in Canada.

Brian Geraghty is a character actor you might recognize from various films like Jarhead, We Are Marshall, The Guardian and/or The Hurt Locker. Josh Peck is probably best known for Nickelodeon's "Drake & Josh", but he also kicked ass in The Wackness and took Charlie Sheen's role in the Red Dawn remake (which we'll probably never see anyway). Finally, Margarita Levieva appeared in Adventureland (as the hot chic "Lisa P," but not Kristen Stewart) and also stole Ashton Kutcher's heart in the indie Spread. They're all actually quite talented and it will be good to see them showing off their real acting skills with a contained thriller like this.

David Brooks, an editor turned filmmaker, will be making his feature debut directing ATM after an award-winning short film called Member in 2001. Peter Safran, who also produced Sparling's Buried, is producing along with Paul Brooks (The Haunting in Connecticut). Dan Clifton is executive producing. I am hoping for the best, but (to compare with some films you may know) I'm concerned this will lean more towards Frozen (which wasn't that good) and less towards Buried (which was fantastic). I really hope Sparling was able to write another great thriller that won't just be called the "next Phone Booth." We'll keep you updated on it!

Reader Feedback - 2 Comments

1

ATM sounds awful - it's sole reason for existing due to "buried".
god, i hope the making of these stuck-in-one-place movies comes to an end after this.

beavis on Aug 2, 2010

2

This sounds lame. It'd be interesting if the story was told in flashbacks about how one of them has been interacting with the man and plans on having them killed or whatever. Then right when you think you have it figured out, there is another series of flashbacks where another one of them is seen interacting with the same man after following the first person that talked to him. So as we see the three of them pleading for their lives, it's real because we don't know which one actually hired the guy.
The big twist comes when we learn that neither of them went through with their dealings with him, but the third person knew they were being followed by him that night but didnt say anything. Immediately, he knew what he was after. On a ride out to a vacant farmhouse near the end, he jumps out of the moving car but is not pursued by but is shot by the stranger.
Now at the farmhouse, he's going to beat the answers he wants out of them. One of them had accsess to a lot of money and he had been out of prision for about two months. He bumped into the first person who chatted away about someone he knew with lots of money and the criminal began to tail him. Having exposed their lies to the two young people who remained but not obtaining any helpful information, he was going to kill them. In a dramatic effort to save them, the third person comes in and fights the guy.
He defeats him. He had been shot, and left for dead but he came back for his 'friends'. Who betrayed who? Who was lying? Which one of the three had lots of money? Theme here is you think you know someone...
but nowadays these picture perfect studs and divas offer little in terms of acting so we'll have to see.